Battling Blair takes fight to Chirac

The prime minister may find his reform plans frustrated under the British EU presidency, report Andrew Porter and Matthew Campbell

Tony Blair was at Chequers yesterday, plotting a fighting return to Brussels this week after being branded as “selfish” and “stubborn” by the leaders of France and Germany in early morning outbursts over the European Union budget crisis.

The prime minister was drafting the speech that he will give on Thursday to the European parliament outlining his plans for Britain’s six-month presidency of the EU, which starts on July 1.

Although President Jacques Chirac appears to have spectacularly sabotaged the British presidency by pushing EU leaders into open warfare at their summit in Brussels, Downing Street officials say that Blair will unrepentantly continue to argue for a “new Europe”.

“Blair will use the presidency to push forward his view that Europe in the future should be looking to put money into technology, research and development and developing skills rather than sinking it all in agricultural subsidies,” said a senior Downing